Entries in Gordon Murray Design
(5)

This all-electric four-seater will be built on Nissan’s new EV platform should it reach production. Though the IMx has a claimed driving range of 373 miles (according to Japan’s JC08 protocol), that range promises to shrink quickly should you unleash the 420 horsepower and 516 lb.-ft. of torque available from the electric motors powering the front and rear wheels. It’s safe to say that when this concept reaches production later this decade as the Leaf SUV, it won’t have as much power, and will be more conventional in many other ways. You can expect the exterior styling to be much more subdued, a shame as the IMx is quite handsome, and the interior to seat five and be much less a designer’s flight of fancy.

Hot on the heels of the launch of the new TVR, which was engineered by Gordon Murray Design and uses its patented iStream production process, comes the announcement that Murray has started a new car company — Gordon Murray Automotive. Cars will be built using the iStream process in limited volumes, with the first product being a flagship model that, Murray says, “demonstrates a return to the design and engineering principles that have made the McLaren F1 such an icon.” The new company also will be able to build iStream-based vehicles on a low-volume basis for external customers. — CAS

The revived TVR sports car company will publicly reveal its first production car at next month’s Goodwood Revival. 2018 marks the 70th anniversary of TVR’s founding by Trevor Wilkinson, whose first name (TreVoR) gave the brand its identity.

Powered by a Cosworth-developed, dry sump Ford 5.0-liter V8 and mated to a six-speed manual gearbox, the entire power unit sits behind the centerline of the front wheels. In addition, the exhaust system dumps out just behind the front wheels, and both the driver and passenger sit just in front of the rear wheels. The car is expected to be under 170 in. long and 50 in. tall, making it shorter the the Porsche 911 and lower than a Jaguar F-Type. Weight is expected to be under 2,700 lb., and the car is said to be capable of traveling from 0-60 mph in less than four seconds and topping 200 mph.

The Tokyo Motor Show is the home room for the weird, the wacky and the wild. It is a reflection of the people who inhabit the island, and a place where technology fuses with unfettered imagination. This year’s show was no different, though it did spawn more than a few production worthy concepts. Among those was a speculative return to rotary power for Mazda, a delicious small sport car from Yamaha, and a preview of the next Lexus LS. We even threw in a motorcycle concept however, Tokyo also had its share of strange and whimsical takes on the automotive scene; none more so than the Mercedes Vision Tokyo, which could be classified as privately owned public transportation. You won’t see those vehicles covered here. What you will see are the cars whose production counterparts will be gracing driveways around the world in the next decade.